Essay On Health Care Inequality

Health Care in the US is arguably available to all who seek it but not everybody has had the same experience and treatment when walking through the doors of a healthcare facility. In many cases, people are discriminated against due to their gender, race/ethnicity, age, and income and are often provided with minimal service. Differences between groups in health coverage, access to care, and quality of care is majorly affected through these disparities. Income is a major factor and can cause groups of people to experience higher burden of illness, injury, disability, or mortality relative to another group.

Healthcare differences or disparities refer to the condition or state of unequal, unlikeness, and disproportion that is observed between people within a society with regard to access to healthcare services (Williams & Torrens, 2011). Such differences are caused by different demographics such as economic status, age, gender, color, and ethnicity. In the United States, such disparities have been witnessed since time immemorial. These differences mean that some people within the country do not have access to quality healthcare services whereas others have full access at all times. Some of these differences in access to healthcare in the country are discussed below.

A high-rate of Americans living without health insurance coverage in one of richest countries is a major social issue facing the United States. Sered Fernandopulle and Ebrary research showed that there are over 40 million uninsured Americans that are falling through the cracks of the health care system. The question why have already been answered. Now the other question is what does it means for society as a whole when an extremely high-rate of adults and children suffer due to inadequate and inaccessible medical care. Uninsured Americans’ lives are greatly being impacted, by not having no health insurance, according to interviews with 120 uninsured men and women and dozens of medical providers, policymakers, and advocates from around the nation. Sered, S. S., Fernandopulle, R. J., & Ebrary, I. (2005;2004;). Uninsured in america: Life and death in the land of opportunity. Berkeley, Calif: University of California Press.

Introduction Disparities in health are an inequality that occurs in the provision of healthcare and its accessibility across different dimensions including location, gender, ethnicity, age, disability status, citizenship status and socioeconomic group (Ubri & Artiga, 2016; Wallerstein & Durran, 2006). According to the health Resources and Service Administration of United States, health disparities are defined by population specific differences in the presence of disease, health outcomes and the accessibility to healthcare. Urbi and Artiga (2016) indicates that disparities in healthcare provision not only bring impacts to the group facing disparities, but also limit overall improvements in quality of care and population health as well as resulting

Many Americans were led to believe that the introduction of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in 2009 would put an end to disparities in health care access. While it did improve the situation for a small percentage of the population there are still many Americans who lack access to good quality health care. Health care access in America is determined by money and those in lower socioeconomic groups frequently tend to miss out on adequate care. In a recent health care report by the national health research foundation Kaiser Family Foundation, it was noted “health care disparities remain a persistent problem in the United States, leading to certain groups being at higher risk of being uninsured, having limited access to care, and experiencing poorer quality of care” (Kaiser Family Foundation). The current health care

Sociologist David Williams states that all policies impact health policy. This is exemplified across a wide rage of policies in the US. These policies are flawed and corrupt, polarizing the nation racially and by socioeconomic status (SES) and resulting in great disparities in health. Although policy and law has evolved, presenting a more progressive and “color-blind” front, it remains an obstacle to ending disparities in health. Many of these policies, such as housing, environmental, and labor, are interconnected and have many aspects to them that affect health policy. In order to address racial and socioeconomic disparities in health policy, we must address the policies that contribute to this disparity.

With the ongoing changes on policies in healthcare, it is imperative to consider the legal and ethical issues in health disparities and access to care based on the socioeconomic status. Research have shown over the past 25 years that disparities in the quality of care are highly influenced by individual characteristics such as race, gender, ethnicity, education, income, and age. The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) recognized that providing care is not simply a “one size fits all” approach especially with the diverse population in today’s society. As healthcare professionals, we need to be alert and know how to properly intervene with such disparities so that the care provided is tailored to the individual.

Krugman writes,” American children from low-income families are often uninsured, they’re more likely to have health problems that derail their life

Health care should not be considered a political argument in America; it is a matter of basic human rights. Something that many people seem to forget is that the US is the only industrialized western nation that lacks a universal health care system. The National Health Care Disparities Report, as well as author and health care worker Nicholas Conley and Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP), strongly suggest that the US needs a universal health care system. The most secure solution for many problems in America, such as wasted spending on a flawed non-universal health care system and 46.8 million Americans being uninsured, is to organize a national health care program in the US that covers all citizens for medical necessities.

Introduction People hope and seeks long and healthier lives. Thus, health care is the act of taking preventative or necessary medical procedures to improve people well-being. Improvement or preventative may be done with surgery, the administering of medicine, or other alterations in a person 's lifestyle. These services are usually offered through a health care system made up of hospitals and physicians. Although, the health care system is set up to reduce or to prevent disease etc., there is a gap or disparity in the US health care system.

Poverty has been a consistent problem throughout history. No matter what the median income, unemployment or overall prosperity level is, there will always be people who are in a state of poverty. Despite being one of the most prosperous countries in the world, the United States is not immune to it either. In 2010 the University of Michigan’s National Poverty Center calculated that twenty-two percent of children living in the United States lived in poverty, exceeding the average fifteen percent of the overall individuals living in the United States (npc.edu). Women also are twice as likely to live in poverty then men are and even larger percentages of people living in poverty are found in minorities living in the United States.

According to the PBS Frontline video “Poor Kids” 2012, more than 46 million Americans are living beneath the poverty line. The United States alone has one of the highest rates of child poverty in the industrialized world. It is stated that 1 out of 5 children are living in poverty. The video documented the lives of three families who are faced with extreme hardships and are battling to survive a life of being poor. All three families have more than one child and could barely afford to pay their bills and purchase food for their household.

As Bernie Sanders once said, “Health care must be recognized as a right, not a privilege.” Most developed countries choose to live by this quote while the United States of America chooses to go against it. Universal health care has benefits on multiple levels, whether it’s a single individual or the people in a whole. The U.S is one of the few developed countries that doesn’t offer universal health care to their people, yet the U.S spends more than seventeen percent of their GDP on health insurance. Many people believe that universal health care is a simple one solution problem, but the truth is that there are multiple forms of universal health care that provide all citizens with the health insurance they need.

The majority of American healthcare are the low income consumers, is a total of 55% who receive health insurance are through their employers and 32% receive health insurance through a government programs. Some of the Federal health care officers were aiming low-income consumers with new advertisements. For most of the

Health inequalities are preventable and unjust differences in health status experienced by certain population groups. People in lower socio-economic groups are more likely to experience chronic ill-health and die earlier than those who are more advantaged. Health inequalities are not only apparent between people of different socio-economic groups – they exist between different genders and different ethnic groups (“Health inequalities,” n.d.).